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All Creatures Great and Small is a television series set in 1930s Northern England starting, based upon a series of books about a Yorkshire veterinary surgeon written by James Wight under the pen name of James Herriot. The series was produced by Playground Entertainment for Channel 5 in the United Kingdom and distributed by PBS in the United States. The series is a new adaptation of Wight's books, following the previous BBC series of 90 episodes that ran from 1978 to 1990 and a number of other films and television series based on Herriot's novels. It was filmed in the Yorkshire Dales, and received funding from Screen Yorkshire.  The first series, which consists of six episodes and a special Christmas episode, was filmed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the publication of the first book in the James Herriot series. The series premiered in the UK on Channel 5 on 1 September 2020 and in the US on PBS as part of Masterpiece on 10 January 2021. Following a second series in late 2021, the show was renewed for two further series, each composed of six episodes and a Christmas special, in January 2022. Filming on the third series began in March 2022. The first episode aired in the UK on 15 September 2022 and in the US on 8 January 2023. The fourth series began airing on 5 October 2023 in the UK and on 7 January 2024 in the US. On 23 February 2024, PBS announced that the series has been renewed for a fifth and sixth series, and that Callum Woodhouse will return as Tristan Farnon. Premise The show revolves around a trio of veterinary surgeons working in the Yorkshire Dales beginning in 1937. Siegfried Farnon (described as an "eccentric") hires James Herriot into his veterinary practice at Skeldale House. Besides Siegfried and James, there is Siegfried's younger brother, Tristan, and Mrs Hall, their housekeeper. Cast Samuel West as Siegfried Farnon, a veterinary surgeon and owner of Skeldale House Anna Madeley as Mrs Audrey Hall, the housekeeper at Skeldale House Nicholas Ralph as James Herriot, a veterinary surgeon Callum Woodhouse as Tristan Farnon, Siegfried's younger brother (series 1–3, 5-) Rachel Shenton as Helen Alderson (later Helen Herriot), a farmer's daughter; she and James fall in love and eventually marry James Anthony-Rose as Richard Carmody (series 4–present) Recurring Diana Rigg (series 1) and Patricia Hodge (series 2–present) as Mrs Pumphrey, the wealthy owner of the Pekingese Tricki Woo Matthew Lewis as Hugh Hulton, a wealthy landowner who competes with James for Helen's affections (series 1-2) Maimie McCoy as Dorothy, Mrs Hall's friend who has a brief romance with Siegfried (series 1) Mollie Winnard as Maggie, barmaid at the Drovers Arms who has an off-and-on romance with Tristan before marrying another man Tony Pitts as Richard Alderson, Helen's father Imogen Clawson as Jenny Alderson, Helen's sister Gabriel Quigley as Hannah Herriot, James's mother (series 1–3) Drew Cain as James Herriot Snr, James's father (series 1–3) Dorothy Atkinson as Diana Brompton, a flirtatious divorcée who has a casual romance with Siegfried (series 2) Will Thorp as Gerald Hammond, a local man who becomes close to Mrs Hall (series 2–present) Sophie Khan Levy as Florence Pandhi (series 3) Production Cast and characters Actor Nicholas Ralph did quite a lot of research on James Herriot ("Alf" Wight) who died in 1995. He also met the vet's son and daughter, Jim and Rosie. "They spoke a lot about Donald and Brian, the real Siegfried and Tristan. They said to me that I had the hardest job because Alf is a kind of observer to these bigger, larger-than-life personalities", he recalled. Naturally, the actor required training in veterinary procedures for authenticity in the show. "Straight off the bat with our on-set vet adviser Andy Barrett, we were up close and personal with horses, sheep, kind of going through the procedures and things that we would be doing. Learning how to approach the animal and everything like that. Using the stethoscope on the cow's heart, then lungs, then stomach" the actor recalled. Although James Herriot/Alf Wight had a "soft, lilting Scottish accent", according to Christopher Timothy who played Herriot in the original TV adaptation, Timothy was instructed to keep his speech neutral for universality when the original BBC series was being filmed. That did not apply to Nicholas Ralph when filming this adaptation; the actor used his genuine Scottish accent. The New York Times indicated that Donald Sinclair actually had more rough edges than the Siegfried character in the books (and in the TV productions). "Sinclair's real-life behaviour was much more eccentric (he once discharged a shotgun during a dinner party to let his guests know it was time to leave)". Significant changes were made from the source material (both the previous television series and the memoir), such as Siegfried Farnon being a heartbroken widower and a dramatically increased role for Mrs Hall, who has been reimagined as a young, live-in housekeeper and a "slightly warmer figure" than in the novels. The role of Helen was also greatly expanded. Working with animals For his role as a veterinary surgeon, Ralph required training in veterinary procedures. For some scenes, however, the production used animal prosthetics: "the back end of the cow, fully functional and everything". One episode portrayed the birth of a calf; that was filmed separately and "was then spliced in seamlessly with footage of the main actors". Ralph admits that "for 90 percent of those scenes with the animals, the animals actually weren't there. It was just cleverly chosen and prosthetics and extremely well-trained, happy animals when we did see them". Some of Ralph's work involved interaction with live animals, such as a bull in one episode and a horse rearing and kicking in another. "Straight off the bat with our on-set vet adviser Andy Barrett, we were up close and personal with horses, sheep, kind of going through the procedures and things that we would be doing", Ralph said. "Learning how to approach the animal and everything like that. Using the stethoscope on the cow's heart, then lungs, then stomach..." "I have huge respect for ... Andy Barrett and the animal handlers who worked on the show", Ralph told an interviewer. In interviews after the filming of series three, Ralph said that the crew had experienced problems with getting cooperation from cats: one bolted off the set while he was trying to examine it. "They are impossible to train!", according to the actor. He was already confident and comfortable working with large animals but spoke of an incident when a cow went out of control after a scene was filmed: "The handlers were holding on to it and had to like roll out of the way as the cow basically galloped, so he had to hit the deck and rolled very professionally out of the way". Filming locations First series The first series was filmed largely in the Yorkshire Dales (often around Nidderdale); th.... Discover the Helen James popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Helen James books.